


The Only Thing That Works For Me

by Calamity_Hero_Awakens



Series: Closer [3]
Category: Saw (Movies)
Genre: Children, Domestic Boyfriends, Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Movie Night, Short & Sweet, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23597056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calamity_Hero_Awakens/pseuds/Calamity_Hero_Awakens
Summary: “So,” Adam awkwardly started, “I’ve been thinking of things we could do together.”Diana looked surprised. “Me and you?”“Well, yeah. Your dad won’t be home for a little while, so I thought we could do something.”“Like what?” Diana asked, her eyes gleaming with excitement.“Well, I thought we could go out and get something to fix for dinner, then we could cook together. Once your dad gets home, we can eat and watch a movie.”“All three of us?” Diana asked, a giant smile on her face.“Of course."“Can we get popcorn? And ice cream?”“Whatever you want,” Adam replied, becoming excited himself. He had never thought that Diana had actually wanted to spend time with him and the revelation was wonderful.
Relationships: Adam Faulkner-Stanheight/Lawrence Gordon
Series: Closer [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1694818
Comments: 1
Kudos: 45





	The Only Thing That Works For Me

“Diana’s coming over this weekend,” Lawrence announced as he pulled on his jacket. “It might be nice if we could all spend some time together.”

Adam understood the silent request. The doctor’s daughter spent every weekend with them and for most of that time, Adam found ways to occupy himself. Sometimes he’d spend the day taking photographs; other times, he’d busy himself with the chores for the next week, spending the entire day washing clothes or shopping.

The photographer was about to give an excuse - it wasn’t that he didn’t like kids, he just didn’t know how to interact with them - when Lawrence piped up again.

“She’s been asking about you.”

“Why would she ask about me?” Adam asked, genuinely curious.

“You don’t spend much time with us when she’s here. To her, you’re just some other man living in my house. She knows practically nothing about you, Adam.”

That had Adam feeling the slightest bit guilty. As awkward as he was around children, he should still be making more of an effort; Diana wasn’t just some kid, she was Adam’s _boyfriend’s_ child.

“Alright,” Adam relented. “I’ll think up something we can do.”

“Thank you, Adam,” Lawrence said with a smile before placing a kiss to the other’s cheek. Turning the knob to leave the apartment, he quickly added, “Oh, Alison will be by to drop her off at two. I already let her know that you’ll be here.”

“Wait a minute,” Adam began but the doctor had already hurried out the door, on his way to work; Adam wasn’t sure how he managed to move so quickly with a briefcase in one hand and his cane in the other.

Adam hated to be put on the spot like that but he knew there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. Rather than complain, the photographer decided to figure out something the three of them could do together once Lawrence got home. He knew the first several hours would be awkward without his boyfriend there but surely he could handle a ten year old girl.

By the time Alison knocked on the apartment door, Adam had an idea of what they could do together. Opening the door, the man was immediately greeted with a scowling woman. Adam already knew that Alison didn’t like him - if the situation had been reversed, he was sure he would have disliked Alison just as much - but he still sucked it up and put on a counterfeit smile.

“Hey, Alison.”

“Hello, Adam.”

“How are you?”

“I’m fine.”

Though Lawrence had told Adam that he had already informed his ex-wife that he would not be home when she arrived, Alison still looked around the living space as if searching for him.

“Lawrence isn’t home,” Adam said as if she hadn’t already known.

“I see that,” she snarkily replied before glancing between the man in the doorway and her daughter. “Perhaps I should wait until he gets back.”

The two had met several times before but the woman was still cautious (as well as resentful) of Adam. Before Adam could think of a level-headed response, Diana was gently tugging on the hand that held her own.

“Momma, it’s fine. Adam’s nice.”

Both adults looked startled at that but Adam quickly recovered, trying his hardest to repress the smug look that threatened to appear.

Alison stared hard at Adam, looking him up and down before begrudgingly giving in.

As Diana let go of her mother’s hand and stepped into the apartment, Alison called, “You know my phone number, right?”

“Yeah,” Diana called back, obviously annoyed at her mother’s overbearing concern.

“Alright,” Alison said, fixing Adam with an icy look. “I’m only one phone call away if you need me.”

“We’re fine,” Diana called over Adam before the male parroted her words and closed the door. He had the feeling that the woman still hadn’t left moments later but he pushed the thought away in favour of approaching Diana’s room where she had disappeared to.

“So,” Adam awkwardly started, “I’ve been thinking of things we could do together.”

Diana looked surprised. “Me and you?”

“Well, yeah. Lawr- your dad,” Adam corrected, “won’t be home for a little while, so I thought we could do something.”

“Like what?” Diana asked, jumping up to sit on the edge of her bed, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

“Well, I thought we could go out and get something to fix for dinner, then we could cook together. Once your dad gets home, we can eat and watch a movie.”

“All three of us?” Diana asked, a giant smile on her face.

“Of course.”

“Can we get popcorn? And ice cream?”

“Whatever you want,” Adam replied, becoming excited himself. He had never thought that Diana had actually wanted to spend time with him and the revelation was wonderful.

🔗🔗🔗🔒🔗🔗🔗

Pushing the grocery cart down the aisle, Diana read off the next item on their list. The two had made a list of the things they would need for dinner and Diana had written everything down. Reading her childish handwriting was a bit of a challenge so Adam let her read off the items as they searched the aisles.

“Noodles,” Diana instructed from her place in the cart’s basket. Though she was too old to ride in the cart and her mother would never allow her to, Adam was perfectly content to help her into the basket and push her around the store.

“You have a preference?” Adam asked as he examined the shelves stocked with different kinds of pasta.

“Bowties,” Diana immediately replied, taking the box from Adam once he had selected one.

“What’s next?”

“Ice cream,” Diana shyly replied, unsure if they would actually purchase it.

“What kind do you want?” Adam asked as he began pushing the cart toward the freezer cases.

The young girl’s eyes lit up. “Strawberry.”

 _Perfect_ , Adam thought. With his favourite being chocolate and Lawrence’s favourite being vanilla - something the two often teased each other about - Neapolitan would be a great selection.

Grabbing the largest container available - practically an entire bucket of ice cream - the two began to head toward the checkout line.

“Are you excited for tonight?” Adam asked though the answer was obvious.

“Yeah. Are you?”

“Absolutely.”

🔗🔗🔗🔒🔗🔗🔗

“I’m not gonna lie,” Adam admitted as he began to boil the noodles for their dinner, “I have no idea how to make spaghetti.”

“Me neither,” Diana agreed, watching the noodles beneath the water. “But I don’t think it’s too hard. It doesn’t look complicated on your plate.”

Adam chuckled. That was true.

Over an hour later, the two were covered in red sauce and the kitchen was a mess but dinner was finally finished. It was a miracle that there was any sauce on the noodles, considering how much they were wearing.

“Alright, you should go get cleaned up,” Adam said. “I’ll clean up in here.”

As Diana disappeared to her room to get clothes and then the master bathroom off of her father’s, the photographer began to wipe down the counters, looking contemptuously at the pile of dishes in the sink. Though they had a dish washer, the dishes would all need to be thoroughly rinsed and soaked first.

Once Adam had finished cleaning the kitchen and his arms of the red sauce, he retired to his room to change his clothes. Besides feeling gross, he wanted to look good when Lawrence got home which should be any moment.

As Adam pulled on a Fear Factory tshirt, his phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Adam,” Lawrence said as if he hadn’t expected an answer.

“Lawrence? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” Lawrence quickly reassured. “Nothing’s wrong. I, uhm, I’m stuck in surgery so I won’t be home until later,” he sheepishly admitted.

Adam’s heart sank. He had been looking forward to spending the evening with both Diana and Lawrence.

“But what about tonight? What about Diana?” Adam asked quietly so the girl in the next room couldn’t hear.

“I’m really sorry, Adam. I promise I’ll make it up to you, both of you.”

“Yeah, alright,” Adam sadly said, mostly to himself. _Damn those other doctors_ , Adam internally complained. _Lawrence shouldn’t have to do such long surgeries. He’s still using a cane for God’s sake!_

“I’m sorry,” Lawrence repeated. “We’ll do something extra special tomorrow.” A beat of silence. “How are you two getting along?”

“Good,” Adam said, trying to shake the sadness from his voice. “You were right; she does want to spend time with me.”

“See? I told you.” Lawrence distractedly muttered something before saying, “I have to go. I’ll see you tonight.”

“Alright, love ya,” Adam said, feeling the familiar small rush at the words.

“I love you too,” Lawrence said with a hint of a smile to his voice before hanging up.

Once Diana had finished washing up and the two were ready for dinner, she inquired where her father was.

“He’s in the middle of a surgery right now,” Adam admitted, hating to be the bearer of bad news.

“Oh,” Diana said, looking as disappointed as Adam felt.

“It’s alright though,” Adam said in an attempt to cheer them both up. “He’ll be done soon enough. Until then, we can still watch movies. Just me and you.”

The child seemed to cheer up at that and the two began to eat their dinner. Though the majority of the meal was spent in silence, it was a surprisingly comfortable silence. Adam knew Diana couldn’t be truly enjoying her meal - there was a reason Lawrence was the cook and Adam only helped - but she made no complaint as she ate.

“Could I see your pictures sometime?” she suddenly asked after a long period of silence.

“How did you know I took photos?” Adam asked in surprise.

“Daddy told me.”

Ah, that made sense. It was only logical that Lawrence would have talked to his daughter about the man he was living with. How much he had told her, Adam was unsure.

Before he could answer her, Diana added, “He talks about you a lot. He says your pictures are really good and that we don’t spend a lot of time together because you get nervous around people.”

Adam was speechless for a long moment before he managed, “That’s very nice of him.”

“You’re dating, right?” she bluntly asked. Adam wasn’t sure whether to make an excuse or just come out with it but in the end, he decided the truth was best.

“Yeah, we’re dating.”

“I thought so,” Diana nonchalantly said as she continued eating, obviously unperturbed, but Adam could see a question forming in her head. When she didn’t voice her thoughts, Adam returned to eating.

Just as he took a big bite of noodles, Diana asked, “Does that mean I can call you dad?”

The photographer hadn’t expected the question in the slightest and ended up choking on his food. It took several minutes of coughing and choking before he managed to get the mouthful down and breathe normally again.

“Do you want to call me that?” Adam genuinely asked.

“Yeah.”

“You’re sure?”

“I already have a momma and a daddy,” Diana said, “but you’re obviously very important to my daddy. And I like you too. Is it okay if I call you dad? Or do you want me to call you Adam like they do?”

Adam wasn’t sure what to say. He liked the idea of Diana being comfortable enough to accept him but he also wasn’t sure what Lawrence would think of the new title. Technically though, he was “daddy”, not “dad”.

“I’m alright with that,” Adam finally said.

Diana smiled brightly. “Cool.”

🔗🔗🔗🔒🔗🔗🔗

After dinner, the two had gone through their movie collection, trying to decide on a film to watch. Most of the movies Adam had an interest in were rated R or PG-13 and Diana wasn’t allowed to watch them. Sifting through the children’s movies that Lawrence kept for when Diana visited, the young girl finally made her selection.

“Have you ever seen this?” Diana asked as she held up the VHS case, putting the cassette into the player.

“‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’? Nope, never heard of it.”

“It’s really good,” Diana said as she plopped down on the couch.

“Sounds like a Christmas movie,” Adam replied as he went into the kitchen to heat up their popcorn.

“It’s a Christmas _and_ a Halloween movie,” Diana clarified, “but it’s good no matter when you watch it.”

As the movie began to play, the young girl paused it and entered the kitchen, Adam leaning against the counter as he waited for the popcorn to finish popping.

“Should I get two bowls for the ice cream?” Diana asked as she struggled to pull the container from the freezer.

Adam helped her get it down as he said, “Nah, just get two spoons.”

“You can do that?” Diana asked in awe.

 _Lawrence would have a heart attack if he saw this_ , Adam thought as he answered, “Yeah, sure.”

“That’s so cool,” she mumbled to herself as she grabbed two spoons from the utensil drawer and headed back into the living room.

Taking the popcorn from the microwave, Adam tore the top of the bag, steam billowing out as he returned to the living room. As he took a seat on the couch, Diana hopped up to hit play. As a last minute thought, she turned out the lights before returning to the couch; with the fading orange and yellow of the sun as the only thing to illuminate the room, it was properly dark.

Once the movie had begun and both members of the party were seated, Adam held the hot bag of popcorn as he offered some to the girl beside him. Diana took a handful and ate it slowly, piece by piece, as Adam grabbed one of the spoons from her hand and set the popcorn aside, popping open the lid of the large container of ice cream.

Minutes into the movie, Adam realized that it might not be all bad. The movie itself seemed to be pretty dark for a children’s movie and, though Diana seemed to thoroughly enjoy it, Adam had the feeling that she might have been playing her audience as well.

Halfway through the movie, Adam found himself humming along to one of the tunes in the movie; Diana used this as her opportunity to ask if he liked it so far.

“Yeah. It’s a lot better than I thought it’d be,” Adam admitted as he dug his spoon into the chocolate section of the container. Diana giggled before getting her own scoop of strawberry.

With the movie coming to an end and the end credits rolling, Diana asked, “Can we watch it again? Please?”

She seemed to have forgotten that her father should have been home by then but Adam was grateful for the distraction. He had the feeling that Lawrence being absent from family nights was a common occurrence to her.

“Sure,” Adam replied as he went to return the ice cream to the freezer and pop another bag of popcorn. Diana jumped up and stopped the movie so it could rewind.

Glancing out one of the many windows in the dining room, Adam realized that it was getting late. Where was Lawrence? Why did the surgery have to take so long?

Minutes later, the movie and the popcorn were ready so Adam resumed his spot on the couch beside his boyfriend’s daughter.

The movie hadn’t been going very long when Diana yawned, leaning her head against Adam’s shoulder. Her eyes remained open but her eyelids were steadily growing heavier. Unsure exactly what to do, Adam stretched his arm out across the back of the couch; Diana adjusted herself so that she was leaning against Adam, her head against his shoulder with the rest of her against his side.

The next time he looked down, Diana’s eyes were closed and her face was relaxed. In sleep, Adam could see just how much she truly resembled Lawrence. Her hair was dark, a dissimilar feature, but the rest of her looked like him.

Watching her sleep, Adam realized how tired he was. Regardless, he didn’t want to disturb the child so he shifted himself a little deeper into the couch and let himself relax.

🔗🔗🔗🔒🔗🔗🔗

Work had been long. It had been the end of Lawrence’s shift and he had been excited to go home to his boyfriend and daughter when he had been called away for emergency surgery. Though his leg was still healing, he didn’t mind performing surgery, as long as it didn’t take too long.

Unfortunately, it did. The surgery had lasted nearly three hours and by the time he was scrubbing himself clean and preparing to go home, his leg was throbbing. He had hated having to tell Adam that he wouldn’t be able to make it home in time for whatever fun activity he had planned but, like so many times before, he would have to find a way to make it up to them.

Leaning heavily on his cane, Lawrence fumbled for the key ring in his pocket. The two always kept the door locked, even when they were both home. They had learned the hard way before and never wanted to experience such a thing again, especially for Diana’s sake.

Pulling the keys out of his jacket pocket, the doctor found the right one and inserted it into the deadbolt lock. Turning the knob, Lawrence entered the apartment and closed the door behind him, locking it back. All of the lights in the apartment were out, the space illuminated only by the bright blue screen of the television. Heavy with guilt, Lawrence realized that they must have gone to bed already; Diana had a bedtime and Adam never slept well so it would only be logical that they would be in bed by ten thirty.

Setting his briefcase down on the small table beside the door, Lawrence returned his keys to his pocket as he looked around the apartment. He was reaching for the light switch when something caught his eye in the darkness.

Over the back of the couch, the surgeon could see the partial outline of Adam, his head rested against a smaller one that was pressed against his shoulder. Limping over - his leg was really hurting now - Lawrence saw the two in the blue light. They were both asleep, their heads pressed against each other with Adam’s arm wrapped lightly around her shoulders; the blonde’s significant other was breathing heavily like he normally did when he managed to sleep without nightmares.

As quietly as he could, Lawrence went to the kitchen and turned on the light so that the living room was only cast in partial darkness. Flipping open his cellular phone, the doctor fumbled through several buttons before he found the camera. Holding it up as best he could, Lawrence managed to snap a photo of his two favourite people. Because of his inexperience, the picture wasn’t near as good as any of Adam’s, but it would do just perfectly.


End file.
